Top 10 Popular Idea that Turned out to be Really Dangerous

The knowledge and development of man is increasing tremendously as time has been passing by. People have come up with new inventions and are constantly coming up with new ideas every now and then. Ideas are something which is genuinely aimed towards the progress and development of people and a nation, yet there have been some ideas imposed which have turned tables the other way round. Instead of reaping benefits out of some ideas, some have actually turned out and proven to be dangerous to people and mankind. Inventions are born out of ideas and therefore, we take a long time to realize the results and consequences of such ideas on our lives. Until a certain passage of times passes, and the results of that idea start hitting us harder do we understand the deadly implications those ideas could or probably be having on our lives and on the whole of mankind. Some ideas exists for long and are carried and followed by people for time immemorial, yet there are some ideas which could have some devastating consequences on our lives, and it is just a matter of time until and unless we realize and get aware of those harmful results. Here is a list of the top 10 popular ideas that turned out to be really dangerous, the implications of which were not known by man before and the fact that the idea shouldn’t have been followed.

1. Skincare Products

The effects of skincare products traces itself back to Japan, when lead and mercury based face paintings were used by women to give their skin a white marble and a shiny glow. People then realised the harmful effects of such skin products on their skin such as lead poisoning and other neurological disorders. Later, with the tanning effect coming into the world, people started using sunbathing skin care creams. Tanned skin was much desirable and therefore people kept themselves exposed to sun for a long time, unaware of the fact the prolonged sun exposures lead to early aging, weakening of immune system and the damage of eyes.

2. Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving is extremely popular and famous an activity during the Halloween. People try to light fires by carving the pumpkin in various ways to celebrate the spooky festival, yet Consumer Reports have pointed out that carving of pumpkins for lighting fire lead to cuts and severe tendon damage. Because the pressure required to carve a pumpkin a lot a more, people tend to easily cut their hands and fingers, even with the use of specialized pumpkin-cutting tools. Care needs to be taken while carving pumpkins as it poses a high threat to severe damages and cuts.

3. Cadmium Paint

Cadmium which is usually used in yellow paints is actually a toxic carcinogen. Impressionists like Van Gogh were known to use cadmium paints in their paintings, and a lot of paintings witness the cadmium sulfide actually breaking down and change the paintings over a certain period of time. Pure cadmium metal is very dangerous is this chemical is known to decay and change colour with time.

4. Mercury

Mercury was used in the hat making process during the 19^th century. Human urine was used in place of camel urine as the urea’s chemical reaction made it easy to pull the fur out of animal hides. These workers treated their diseases with mercury, due to which the mercury started entering their urine, and they slowly realized that the mercury present in their urine made the work of pulling out the fur even easier without doing much damage, and therefore mercury nitrate started being used for hats. In 1941, this process was banned in the US as the government needs mercury for the manufacturing of weapons and for wartime use.

5. Radium watches and dials

First invented and discovered by Madam Curie, radium has this unique property of glowing in the dark. Radium is used in watches and the dials, and to make other reading more comfortable and proper when there is dim light or no light at all. When the lights are turned off will you be able to see the glowing property of the radium. Women mostly used to paint the dial of watches with radium, until one day they suffered problems such as their teeth falling off, developing of sores and bone rot on their face. On conducting further studies, it was pointed out that the women working in such radium factoring where highly exposed to radium dust which is extremely harmful and deadly. The radium dust on their skin made the women glow in the dark like the dials and when they breathed, they were breathing out radon gas.

6. Dietary Supplements

You might think that dietary supplements do a wonderful work by making you lose weight within days and weeks on taking them, yet the knowledge of its side effects are equally important. The Food and Drug Administration had linked a chemical DMAA with psychiatric disorders, nervous system malfunction and death, and this particular chemical is present in high doses in almost all weight loss pilss and other dietary supplements. Even after knowing the hazardous effects, the manufacturing of such drugs still continues without any knowledge of whether they actually do any good to you or result in death in the worst of cases.

7. E-cigarettes

People believe that E-cigarettes have made the activity of smoking much easier and feasible as it is just similar to smoking a cigarette with the nicotine high but without the toxic tar. Although some believe that the use of E-cigarettes would help curb down the inhalation of toxic tar amongst smokers, the side effects of this e-cigarettes are many. To begin with, the vapour used in e-cigarettes contains chemicals which could result in eye and respiratory problems. The cartridges of e-cigarettes pose a problem for children, pets and others around such smokers as eating or chewing of the cartridge could result in poisoning children. It could also result in anything starting from seizures to cardiac arrest.

8. Asbestos

Asbestos is a fire resistant material used for a variety of purposes, especially for buildings. But asbestos have been in use since a long time now, from as far as 4000 BC when asbestos due to its resistance to fire was used in candle wicks, and the Egyptians wrapped dead bodies with asbestos sheets to prevent the bodies from decaying. Asbestos surprisingly was in wide use since an undefined age of time now. Charlemagne had ordered tablecloths made of asbestos so that they couldn’t catch fire easily during parties. This material with its unique properties also proved to be dangerous and hazardous when miners wore masks to keep themselves away from breathing the fibers, until during the 1970’s the asbestos industry was shut down.

9. Wearing Muslin

Muslin is a versatile cotton fabric which was first made in the Middle East, until gradually the material entered France. The French women wore light and sheer muslin dresses as the type of clothing to be worn by the French was guarded by the sumptuary laws. This gave rise to the Muslin disease where women wore such muslin dresses all the year round, even during winters. This muslin dress could be traced back to Greece, where the motive was to look like a Greek statue which is pure, white and mad of marble. Women in large numbers started wearing thin and wet muslin dresses all the time.

10. Skipping Vaccination

The advocates of the anti-vaccination movement try and make people realize of the side effects of vaccines such as seizures and that vaccine is directly related to autism effects. Though this movement has been gaining a lot of followers recently, this movement is doing nothing but making hundreds of people sick and prone to deadly diseases. In reality, vaccines are known to save lives and the same should be continued without any hindrance if people need to stay healthy and disease free.